2018

chloe bravely telling the bellas she had her nodes removed

Like Chloe and her nodes, I made the courageous decision to break all ties with formal employment this summer. I didn't want to lose my identity and be JUST a stay at home mom because that sounded so lame and a waste of my many talents. But just like I didn't want to major in education in college because I was not going to be a teacher but ended up becoming a teacher anyway because it was inevitable and I ended up loving it...I also LOVE staying home with my gremlins and spending all the time doing all the things. (Except homework. Homework can *all the curse words* die.)
And while I feel confident in my decision, I still find myself telling service people who come to our house during the day things like, "If you need me, I'll be in my office working. I have to log in and make it look like I've done something today! *very contrived laughter*..."
Every time I say it, I turn, roll my eyes and wonder why I said it.
Luckily, no one has ever asked follow up questions.

When I scrolled through the photos on my phone taken over this last year, I relived hundreds of moments, big and small that made this year whole.

We took a mostly impromptu trip to Disney World in April. I can't say that if I had more time to plan, it would have been a better trip...the whole process of planning Disney is way too complicated and involved. I immediately get overwhelmed and shut down. We booked it last minute and had a great time.

We stayed here until we were able to pay off the trip in full:

For homework one afternoon, we read a super outdated, opposite of empowering women book in Spanish...

I'll briefly paraphrase what I understand about this book, "Mom's Diet"...be warned, there is a language barrier for me...


Mom tells her kids she's very fat...making them (again) need to reverse parent/child roles and take care of her. They assure her they don't think she is fat.
But she's like, I am! We're not eating my favorite, spaghetti, anymore!

The kids are like, salad?! WTF? This sucks! Why are we being dragged into this?

Then they go to Dad's house (It's starting to make a little more sense at this point) and asshole Dad is like, Sure! Let's eat spaghetti! Your mom is crazy and I won't tell her. We never loved each other anyway. As you can see, his fridge is full of all the good stuff because his 20 year old girlfriend still has great metabolism. Also note that smug AF look on his face...

After two days of eating nothing but salad, Mom is like, I'm still fat!!! The kids again assure her that she is perfect to them. Then the book ends. I am convinced, though, that the kids plan a way to run away in the night and help their Dad get full custody.

It was a really uplifting book to read and translate with a first grader. Way to go, school.

We took a Father's Day weekend trip to Glen Rose to visit the old roommate and take the boys to Dinosaur Valley State Park and Fossil Rim!

Z turned one! He does not like cake. Not even Candy Haven cake! He has stuck to his decision thus far and still will not eat cake.

Z also got his first REAL beach trip. He was only two months old last year and was not a fan...
But this year, he loved it. It's my favorite trip of the year...a great way to unplug and see something other than a screen.

We went to visit friends in Montana for a week before school started back in August. They took us to Yellowstone and we spent at least half a week in one of the most beautiful places without cell phone service. Perfection.

Alex, looking for a screen...

The rest of the 1000+ pictures are from a handful of places we frequented often...The Dallas Zoo, the Dallas Arboretum, The Perot Museum. the church garden, and local parks. We did all the Easter Bunny, Fourth of July parade, end of school, back to school, Ranger games, high school football, pumpkin patches, and Santa visiting. They're wonderful times spent with friends and family.
But the most significant thing that happened in 2018 (other than I read a lot of books!) is that my kids grew and grew and grew. When you are in it every day, you can't really tell, but when you look at January and December, it is an amazing comparison.
Especially Z...he went from sitting, to crawling to walking to running! all in a year. He also grew an enormous amount of hair that V refuses to let get cut. Alex kept on learning more and more and growing as well. He is becoming funny on purpose as opposed to funny accidentally!


January 2018

December 2018

We were very fortunate to have had a mostly healthy and happy year in 2018.
Looking back at all the photos, I also realize I could have blogged a lot more than I did instead of the mediocrity that is this jumbled, up to the last minute post.
They discontinued my Passion Planner (that I stopped using around July) so I don't know how I am going to make my goals and dreams a reality in 2019.
I guess I'll just wing it.

Happy New Year 2019. May it be your best yet.